Local health authorities say Israeli gunfire killed at least 17 Palestinians and dozens injured dozens as thousands of displaced people supported the aid allocation location of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) in central Gaza on Tuesday.
Medical staff said the casualties were taken to two hospitals, the Al-Awda Hospital in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza and the Al-Quds in the northern city of Gaza.
The Israeli military said they are investigating the incident. Last week, it warned Palestinians against routes to the GHF site between 6pm and 6pm local time, describing the roads as closed military areas.
GHF did not immediately comment on Tuesday's incident.
The GHF began distributing food packaging in Gaza at the end of May, overseeing a new model of aid distribution, which the United Nations said is neither just nor neutral.
However, many Gazans say they have to walk for hours to get to these locations, meaning they have to start a good trip before dawn if they have the opportunity to receive food.
Although the GHF said no incident occurred in its so-called safe distribution venue, Palestinians seeking assistance described obstacles and routes to disorderly and deadly violence.
“I went there at 2 a.m. and hoped to have some food there, and there, I saw people coming home empty-handed and they said the aid package was used up in five minutes, which was crazy and not enough,” said Mohammad Abu Amr, 40.
“Thousands of people also arrived from the central and northern regions, some of whom walked 20 kilometers but returned home disappointed,” he told Reuters via a chat app. He said he heard the fire but saw nothing happened.
Local health authorities say ten Palestinians were killed in Israeli tank fires in Gaza.
Israel allowed limited non-leadership operations to resume on May 19, after an 11-week lockdown in an enclave of 2.3 million people, with experts warning of the famine. The UN describes aid allowing access to Gaza as “falling into the ocean.”
Witnesses said at least 40 trucks carrying flour for UN warehouses were robbed by desperate displaced Palestinians and thieves near the coastal roads of Gaza City along Napursi round meals.
On October 7, 2023, Israel's deadliest day, militants led by Israel captured 251 hostages and killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and the war broke out.
Since then, according to Gaza’s health authorities, Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians, and weakened much of the coastal area.
